


How Cruel is the Golden Rule?

by DesireeArmfeldt



Series: Speechless Snippets [4]
Category: due South
Genre: Community: dsc6dsnippets, M/M, POV Third Person Limited, Prompt Fic, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-19
Updated: 2013-02-19
Packaged: 2017-11-29 20:37:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/691196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesireeArmfeldt/pseuds/DesireeArmfeldt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Originally posted to <a href="ds-snippets.livejournal.com">ds-snippets</a> for the prompts "how cruel is the Golden Rule?" & "respond."</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Cruel is the Golden Rule?

“When I was a boy,” Fraser says into the dark, “My grandmother taught me the Golden Rule.”

There’s an interrogative grunt from Ray, who is lying on Fraser’s cot, a foot or so above Fraser’s head, within arm’s reach, invisible.

“ _Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,_ ” Fraser quotes, in case this is not a reference Ray is familiar with. “But I soon learned that it’s not a good rule to follow too literally.”

“What’d you do?” Ray’s voice is amused, curious, and not actually sleepy. Fraser takes heart.

“Oh, any number of rather misguided things.” He winces at the memory of his boyish foolishness. He’ll tell Ray these stories one day; he will. But they’re beside the point at the moment.

“The point is, I realized that true courtesy lies not in giving others what one would like to receive oneself, but in giving them what they want. Or need.”

Silence from Ray. But Fraser can tell from his breathing that he hasn’t dropped off to sleep. This is alert silence. Fraser gives him time to think.

“That’s real smart,” says Ray at last, and there’s no mockery in his tone, no anger. “I’m not so good at polite,” he adds.

And yet, Ray is here. On Fraser’s cot in the middle of the night, by his own request, with no explanation for his presence, no demands for Fraser to break the impenetrable silence between them.

“You have your own peculiar brand of courtesy,” Fraser offers, and then reaches up, finds Ray’s hand, and threads his own fingers among Ray’s.

He’s holding his breath, so he can hear the soft release of Ray’s at his touch. Ray’s fingers tighten gently around his.

“I’m learning,” Ray says, and Fraser can hear his smile.


End file.
